Black Friday Turns Deadly — Multiple Shootings Reported

Before dawn had even broken on America’s West Coast on Friday, Black Friday-related shootings had already claimed at least two lives and left two more people injured.

One person was shot to death outside the Hamilton Mall in New Jersey as shoppers waited for a Macy’s to open at 6 a.m. Police found shell casings around a bullet-riddled SUV, but had no suspects as of early Friday.

One person has died in a shooting outside of a Macy's department store in New Jersey on Friday morning https://t.co/vkvDxeJ6eu

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Police said that the brother of the man who was killed was wounded in the incident.

In response, police upgraded security at the mall, located in southern New Jersey.

“It’s upsetting being local and hearing so many things that are going on in the area,” said Nicole Farina, 32, of Ocean City, who showed up to shop at 6 a.m. with her 2-month-old child in tow. “It makes you really kind of question your safety.”

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KYW-TV was at the mall and caught shoppers’ reactions to the shootings.

“It’s sad,” said one shopper at the mall. “We’ve been doing this, me and my girls, for probably about 10 years now, just for the fun of going out — a girls night and trying to get some special sales, and it’s getting scary now.”

Another shopper called the incident “a tragedy.”

“It’s very scary, you know, you’re starting off the holiday season and you’re excited about the upcoming times with family and now there’s going to be family who are missing people and their holidays will never be the same,” said a second shopper.

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Two Thursday shootings were also recorded, as shoppers tried to get a jump on holiday bargains.

One person was killed in Nevada in what police described as a shooting linked to road rage. Another person was shot in Tennessee in an incident that did not lead to a fatality.

In the Nevada case, police said there was a dispute over a parking space near a Reno Walmart that later escalated into violence when one person was shot to death near the exit from the parking lot. Police later said a suspect was in custody.

The Wolfchase Galleria Mall in Memphis, Tenn., had opened Thursday night for early shoppers. Police said a suspect fired several shots, wounding one man, and drove off. Police later announced that three suspects were being held in connection with the incident.

Between 2006 and 2014, seven people were killed and 98 injured in incidents that took place during Black Friday.